Idris Elba: Hollywood star leads Don’t Stop Your Future campaign to ban machetes and 'zombie knifes'

Hollywood actor and rapper Idris Elba is putting his name behind a new anti-knife crime campaign to ban machetes and so-called 'zombie knives'.

Elba, 51, has launched the Don’t Stop Your Future campaign in a bid to help eradicate immediately, backing calls to fast-track the process. The Luther star said: “I can’t stay silent as more young lives are lost to these brutal and heartless crimes. As school returns, too many young people will not be joining their classmates and too many grieving families have lost a young person they love in recent years. Young people are our future, their potential deserves to be met, not taken away by violence.”

Elba also said that while police forces around the UK deploying the controversial 'stop and search' power "may do some help", the use is "not eradicating the issue". He added: "Some kids are carrying these knives because they’re scared and some are carrying knives because it makes them feel more protected. Stop and search will do some work, but we need to kind of pull the onion back a little further and figure out what are the roots of these issues?”

The government has said that it remains "committed to further intervention measures" to combat knife crime. Zombie knifes, which are defined as having a cutting edge, a serrated edge and featuring words or images on them suggesting for violent use, have been designated prohibited offensive weapons in the past but loopholes often allow their their legal sale.

Police have been unable to seize some so-called 'zombie knives' due to the strict definition including images or words suggesting it will be used for violent use. Knives have been sold without images or words on it, demonstrating a loophole in the ban.

Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has pledged to ban all 'zombie knives', as well as other weapons, but it is not clear when the timeline will allow for the ban to be put in place, with Elba among those calling for their immediate ban. A government spokesperson said: "Knife crime tears families apart, and we know more needs to be done. Though hospital admissions for assault by a sharp object have fallen by 25% across England and Wales, we remain committed to further intervention measures. Through our Criminal Justice Bill, police will be given new powers to seize, retain and destroy knives found on private properties that are likely to be connected with unlawful violence."

Elba, who is also a DJ and rapper, has released a new song to raise the profile of the Don't Stop Your Future campaign. 'Knives Down' was released on the same day that the campaign was launched.

Patrick Green from the Ben Kinsella Trust, which was named after the 16-year-old stabbing victim, backed the campaign saying: "Four months have passed since we were promised the legislation we so desperately need to ban these weapons, yet the Bill has only just started its agonisingly slow journey through Parliament. The government has demonstrated that when they deem it necessary, parliamentary time can be found to expedite Bills with urgency. So, why, when we know that these knives are being used to take the lives of our children, are they not prioritising a ban with the same urgency?"